(Testimony of Chief Jesse E. Curry)
Mr. Hubert.
Did he say why ?
Mr. Curry.
He said if someone tried to take our prisoner, he felt like we ought to .be able to manuever and he felt that this would be too awkward in in this heavy armored car and he preferred that the prisoner be transferred in a regular police car with detectives.
Mr. Hubert.
Was a policeman to drive the armored car?
Mr. Curry.
No; not the armored car.
Mr. Hubert.
Is that a factor, too---I suppose --it wouldn't be a member of the police force under your control driving that car?
Mr. Curry.
No; but he felt like Fritz said if anyone tried to take our prisoner we should be in a position to be able to cut out of the caravan or to take off or do whatever was necessary to protect our prisoner. So, I didn't argue with him about it-- there was some merit to his plan, so I told him, "Well, okay, but we would still use the armored car as a decoy and let it go right on down just as we had planned and if anyone planned to try to take our prisoner away from us, they would be attacking an empty armored car," and that his vehicle with the prisoner in it would have cut out of the caravan and proceeded immediately to the county jail and the prisoner would be taken into the county jail, and the way we figured it, he would be there before the other caravan got there.
Well, he asked me if everything was ready and I said, "Yes, as far as I know, everything is ready to go," and this was a little after 11 o'clock and I said, "Well, I'll go on down to the basement," and was en route to the basement when I was called to the telephone and Mayor Cabell was on the telephone wanting to know something about the case, how we were progressing, what was going on, and while I was talking to him they made this transfer and Oswald was shot in the basement, and he was rushed to Parkland Hospital and I was notified that he had been shot in the basement.
Mr. Hubert.
Did you know about his being shot before he moved to the hospital in the ambulance?
Mr. Curry.
Yes, they called me from the jail office and said he had been shot and an ambulance had been ordered.
Mr. Hubert.
Now, after the shooting, what action did you take that is, the shooting of Oswald?
Mr. Curry.
Well, I don't recall any particular action I took. I was told the man who shot him was in custody and was up in the jail. I think I notified the mayor that the man had been shot while I was still on the telephone with him and then I waited up in my office for word from Parkland Hospital, and about 1:30, or I believe about 1:30, we were informed that he had expired, and during this time I had been informed that the man who shot him was a nightclub operator named Jack Ruby, and that he was in custody up in the jail.
After I was informed that Oswald had died, I made an announcement to news media that he had expired and that we had the man who shot him in custody and as I recall, that's about the extent of my activity on that day.
Mr. Hubert.
Do you remember whether on Sunday, November 24, it came to your attention that Ruby had stated that he entered the jail through the Main Street ramp?
Mr. Curry.
I heard that, but I don't know who told it to me. I just heard a rumor that he had come in through the Main Street ramp. I understood that he told some more people that up in the jail.
After this happened, I immediately set up an investigative team to try to find out what happened.
Mr. Hubert.
Now, when you say "immediately," you mean on the 24th?
Mr. Curry.
Yes.
Mr. Hubert.
And who was that ?
Mr. Curry.
Inspector Sawyer, Capt. O. A. Jones.
Mr. Hubert.
What were your instructions to them?
Mr. Curry.
TO interrogate everyone that had anything to do with this and find out what they knew about it, what had happened and how and why and how it occurred.
Mr. Hubert.
Is it fair to state that your instructions were then to find out exactly the truth?
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